


to ashes

by MementoMoriPontifexMortis



Series: Earth-25 Shenanigans [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angst, Angst and Feels, Canonical Character Death, Disjointed, F/M, Female Cisco Ramon, Gen, Minor Character Death, Swearing, The Author Regrets Everything, at the end though only, i hate tagging characters bc like what do i put???, the author causes more plotholes than solves them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 17:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10621215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MementoMoriPontifexMortis/pseuds/MementoMoriPontifexMortis
Summary: AU.(she createsbreakshim, she didn’t mean to).“Take him back,” She whispers, like a little devil on his shoulder, “Take back what is rightfully yours.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TinyTeddy878](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyTeddy878/gifts).



> This takes place at some point in Earth-25's timeline, which is who knows what and has another story that will (hopefully) follow it tomorrow. Funnily enough, I was working on the other story (tentatively titled 'lost you') and only started working on this one earlier when I finished it and decided to post it. I hope you all like this??? 
> 
> Also like listen to (really whatever you want ) My Demons by Starset, because I was listening to that while writing, but I mean, any angsty depressing song will work! :)

* * *

_Take everything that hurt you and turn it into the fire that will burn those that betrayed you to ashes._ \- Nikita Gil

 

* * *

She hums approvingly at him, smiling as he pulls his hair back into a ponytail and slips on the black leather jacket. “Take him back,” She whispers, a devil on his shoulder. “Take back what is rightfully yours.” 

He fingers the leather, likes the way it makes him feel and nods. She’s right, has been since he started talking to her a few months ago. She smirks at him, as if she can read his mind – not that he would put it against her, she’s stronger than him, more learned with her (their) powers and he’s not quite sure what he can do all the way – and follows his hand down the jacket. She leans up on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek, her lips brushing his ear to whisper, “Rip this world from his clawed hands and watch as he bleeds, broken like you were once.” 

He’s still broken. Armando is dead because of **him** , because of a man who masqueraded as a god when he was far from it.

“A god he wants to be,” She told him when she first met him, “But he’s got nothing on us.” 

She turns from him, walks to the large window of the apartment and looks out to the world. Her own black leather jacket – a longer version of his – flutters in the air as she does so, heels clacking on the hardwood flooring. Her face set grimly, she holds a hand to the cold glass, winter falling on the reddened earth that she’s called her home while training him. 

“Take this Earth for us.” She says after a moment, turning her head lightly to him, hair swishing in a ponytail. “Take this Earth for the ones that have lost so much to our destinies as the universe personified.”

He walks to her, softly. His footsteps echo in the large and empty apartment, the world beneath him, right beyond that glass wall has taken his brother from him. It has taken Armando from him far too early and left him with powers he can’t control, Dante wandering somewhere trying to find his own self and anger that has boiled far too long. 

This woman, this other form of him, this Izzy, this girl that is him from another world has taken that anger and the uncontrollable powers and formed them into him. He is now stronger than he ever could have became if he tried to do it on his own and he knows that. He is not stupid, he may have flunked college but he is smart enough to understand basic things. 

Nothing is more basic then the fact that she has turned him into something stronger, someone stronger. She has made him better, better than anyone could ever be – of course, besides themselves. 

His hand joins hers and he lets the vibrations shake the glass until it falls apart like he did when Zoom killed Armando and Dante ran from him. He shakes it until it pierces his skin and blood drips, following the glass shards that fall upon unsuspecting idiots beneath him. She grins at him as she pulls away, leaning lightly over the edge to listen to the screams of the people down on the ground. 

His stomach pulls, because he’s never been a good person but actively seeking to hurt people is something new to him. He still feels wrong – feels too much like Zoom when he does it. His mind doesn’t wait to remind him that it’s the world that’s in the wrong. It’s the one that betrayed them and not him. 

Izzy turns from him and without meaning to, one of his hands reaches out, grabs the string that holds her corset coat together-- 

                              ( and holds them together, all the lines connecting each and every single

                                                 cisco ramon or izzy ramon together, no matter their dimension, timeline,

                                                                     universe, world, or city. they are all one and the same and he has

                                                                                    to believe that the others are like him and would help him just

                                                                                                     like this first doppelganger has. )

 

Her hand snaps, grabbing his and lifting an eyebrow, tauntingly. “No, no, no. Don’t do this,” She mutters as she lets go, letting him bring his hand back to his body. He doesn’t know what she is talking about but he promises to never touch her again. 

It must be an earth-25 thing, because here on his earth (Earth-2, she dubbed it when she first showed up) it’s not a thing. 

“I won’t.” 

                                                                                (It’s a lie and he can see it in her eyes.)

                                                             (She stops visiting once he becomes obsessed with hurting others.)

 

* * *

The world is set to fall apart, come together and he is set to get his revenge at last. She comes back as well and he doesn’t say that he’s missed her, because she already knows it. 

She looks exactly the same as she did when she left the last time, younger than him and colder. She likes to claim that he is the monster because he enjoys the pain he causes others, but she’s the one who created him; taught him everything he knows so isn’t she at fault? 

He smirks at her and turns, eyes covered by the glasses he uses. He sees her trying to figure him out, trying to get a read on him but he’s become better at hiding his true intentions, as he’s had to while working for his enemy. “My dear Izzy.” He croons, “What a surprise.” 

“You are treading where I cannot go, Reverb.” She shoots, arms crossed in front of her, and he frowns.

Never in their relationship has she ever called him by his alias. Anger, pure anger, rears its ugly head, “You turned me into Reverb! You made me this!” He stalks close to her, grasping her shoulders as he stands in front of her, “You gave me this path!” 

“I gave you the ability to take back what was rightfully yours,” She argues, pushing him off and moving away from him. Same heels, same long black coat, same skin tight jeans peeking out from underneath. “I gave you the ability to get what was taken from you, but you thought I meant war. I meant for you to get rid of Zoom **by yourself** and then bring Armando back.” 

“We can’t bring back the dead,” He says, “We never have been able to.”

“There are an infinite amount of worlds out there,” She begins, a look of shock crossing her face before it settles on pity, “You could have your pick of any Armando, even ones that are near the same as the one you lost and you decide that you’d rather rage a war – a drawn out one as you could have taken his speed over a year ago – in hopes of getting revenge! The universe doesn’t need another revenge seeker!” 

“Oh but I need it!” He replies, anger seeping from the balled up fists in the form of the universe colors. “I needed it and that’s what it’s all about!” 

It has been about him since she showed up, running into his life with speeches of greatness and shrewd smiles. It had been about him since she taught him how to control the universe just with lifting his hand. 

“Don’t do this,” She grits her teeth, sets her blood on fire and gives a look over his shoulder. The warehouse beckons him, letting him know that its close for him to continue the tradition. “Out of the half dozen mess ups that you have done, don’t let this one be your last.” 

“I’m a god, I don’t die.” 

She laughs, bitter and angry. He’s not fearful of her anymore, he was once but no longer. She may be cold like the ocean, but he is a volcano and he is burning up.

 

                                                 (Icarus may have died trying

                                                 to touch the sun, but he was better

                                                 than Icarus; his wings would not fail him)

 

“If your world didn’t have a filter on it, I would curse you until the sky turned blue.” She says, harsh and cold. She has given up on him when once her voice was a balm to the wounds that the world had given him. She backs further away from him, throwing a hand up to the side; a portal opening, shining bright like the universe. “I will give you this one chance to change what will happen, come with me. I will get you where you need to go so you don’t end up like me.” 

“It’s too late, _Isabella_ , I am already like you.” 

(and when he falls – because he does fall, everyone who flies too close to the sun does – she regrets his words for him. The warehouse empty but for the two bodies of the damned, she tiptoes inside. She had only meant to change the path he was on, so he did not end up like her: seeking vengeance for every slight, but instead she sent him on the path. She had only wanted to reunite him with an Armando who had felt the sting of loss like Francisco had himself. 

She touches his chest, where his heart was crushed and wishes for a second that she could restart it, undo what has been reaped. But he was right, they can’t bring back the dead). 

* * *

“What the fuck happened to you?” Harrison asks when she comes back, holding Reverb’s leather jacket in her arms. She tightens her grip, pushes away from her Harrison and drops it in the duffel bag that counts as luggage. She balls her fingers into fists, half moons cutting into her skin as she hears the door open, Harrison walk in and stand behind her. 

“Fuck,” She whispers, hitting her head with the close fist, “Fuck, fuck, damn!” She turns, the side of her fists hitting Harrison's’ chest. “Fuck!” 

He grabs her wrists, holding them tightly, “What did you do?” He asks, his tone not at all accusing and that sets her off even more. 

“I killed him!” She screams, pushing him into the wall. “I tried to save him and I killed him instead! I can’t do anything – not even save myself!” 

“You saved me,” He replies, even when he knows its the wrong thing to say. She did not save him, not in either of their eyes: she ruined him, made him turn from a path he knows he never would have truly walked. Her eyes narrow, anger screws her face up and she moves to slap him, but he stops her. 

“I killed him,” She whispers after a moment, fat ugly tears building in dark brown eyes. Eyes that sparkled with anger and fear and sadness. “I killed him by filling him with dreams of grandeur.” 

“Don’t do that to the next one then.”

She shakes her head, “There is no next one.” Her plan to help the ones like her, the brokenhearted, lost and damaged Ramons that had lost each other, has only led to pain and she isn’t willing to force herself to lose any other of her doppelgangers. Better to just offer them comfort and let them live then to keep them from becoming a wreck like herself. 

“I can’t fix the broken ones,” She continues, her thoughts muddling in her brain. “How can I when I can’t fix myself?”

 

                                           (the world broke her, broke them all  
                                           and when it asked her to, she couldn’t  
                                           put them all back together).

 

                                                 (She’ll just have to be carefuller with the next one… 

                                                           hold their hand a little tighter next time…

                                                                    watch her words the next time…

                                                                              lie a little louder the next time…  

                                                                                      choose one a little more broken, the next time...)

 

 She'd just have to choose a little better next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Where does this fit in the storyline? Who knows??? Just have the angst of Izzy trying to keep her counterparts from feeling the pain she feels without her brothers, just have that. 
> 
> Comment and Kudos??? 
> 
> (Yes, I'll get back to working on Potential very shortly, I kinda wanted to take a break to play with my more angry-angsty babies)


End file.
